What’s your dream?

Many of our friends would be in awe that we took so many holidays each year. Some even laughed and said it would all stop when we had kids!

Who’s laughing now eh! 😉

But how??

We made choices! Buckle up because here comes the ‘I already know this’ list:

Try walking or cycling to work instead. Yes, even if it’s raining! (There’s a thing called waterproofs!)

Make packed lunches & home cooked meals.

Reduce, if not remove takeaways from your weekly routine!

If you’re a coffee lover (like us), buy an AeroPress & take it to work! (With coffee of course)

Time to have a word with your inner diva and cut back your beauty regime.

Start walking or running – it’s free!! And you’ll be uber slim for your new challenge!

No new purchases of anything! That includes clothes, cars and phones!!. Oh and if it breaks.. guess what… usually, you can fix it!

No more re-decorating the house. Kids will only trash it anyway!

Become DES on nights out.

Drink more water!! It comes fresh from the Manx hills yessir. (Ditch the fizzy stuff, juice stuff and green stuff!!)

These are some of the things we did… In short, we got our sh!t together, we made sacrifices and we made a plan to reduce costs and save money. Small changes can go a long way, and it’s worth it!

Certainly, don’t make choices which make your life miserable. Don’t forget that you are human and need self-care! Believe me, I made some choices which I regret, but I learnt from them. Instead, live within your means. Ask yourself before you make an appointment or make a purchase. Do I really need it?

In fact, if you can wait a week you may even find that you don’t need it at all! Easy to say… less easy to do! And it does take a helluva lot of resistance & strength!

Making no resolutions

I don’t believe in resolutions but I do believe in life choices.

So instead of choosing a crappy ‘promise’ that you will probably break in a couple of weeks… Why not make a life choice?

Why not decide what you want to do with your life? Get a new job? Buy a house? Learn a new language? Or travel the world!!! Whatever it is… make a plan! But make it a good one.

Planning

It took us 2 and a half years of planning & saving before we zipped up our backpacks!

Sounds like a lifetime doesn’t it? But now; 8 months along, I remember the decision like it was yesterday! Things always seem more daunting the further away they are.

Organising our trip became my job. When I’d finished dealing with work, kids and day to day tasks I would research, plan and organise! It took all my energy. But… don’t allow it to consume you – find the balance that suits you.

Check out our ‘world adventure with family’ account to see why it’s been our best decision so far ❤️

Fight or flight

Believe me, I know this one well! When we first read the blog posts of our friends who were travelling the world with their kids it seemed so simple.

“Why aren’t we doing this?”
“Sooo jealous”

And when we decided we should go for it. It turned into “what the hell are we doing!?”. At times it seemed impossible.

I could have given up so many times, but I’m glad I didn’t. And even during the trip, there are times that things don’t quite go to plan and it’s a struggle. But it’s then that we pull together and attempt to laugh before we cry!

Nothing is ever as bad as the thoughts in your mind (or what they report on the news)! You just have to do it. Take the plunge… what’s the worst that can happen. Even if you travelled for just 3 months instead of a year. You still did it! You tried, rather than wondered.

This is the most rewarding thing we’ve ever done in our lives. Instead of organising the boys and getting them to and from clubs, school and social events. We spend every minute with them. Watching them, listening to them, teaching them and most of the time; them teaching us!